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Guys, I have some friends going with me occasionally who have never tuna fished before so I created a guide to help them. They normally use my rods and I run cheap so please look at Specs vs brands to hopefully give new people some good advice. I tie simple knots because I am old, can't see well and at 2am, can't think very well either...
Please provide any other good advice that you would recommend. Some people may not want to buy their own tackle but they can still jig or chunk with the boat rods and even "pop" if they freeline a Yummy or a popper and reel it in quickly for a short time then freeline it again...
Things to bring:
· Sleeping articles (blanket and pillow)
· Personal Hygiene deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, baby wipes
· Bonine or seasickness patches (put one patch on when start the drive)
· Fishing clothes (I wear long sleeve shirt and pants)
· Sun-block
· Sunglasses
· Camera
· Hat
· Medicine (I bring Ibuprofin and Pepto Bismol)
· Gallon of water
· Fish belt with Knife and small hand towel
· We have to buy food from the boat so don't bring any
Buy 1 box of sardines from the boat or local bait shop
Tackle- I recommend three sets of gear. You can go high end with a Stella and a Custom rod or low end with a Spheros and an Ugly Stick based on your budget, preference and probability of divorce…
1. Popping rod 10000 class high gear ratio spinning reel (spheros to stella) on a 7 - 8 ft popping rod. Spool with 50lb braid. Although a topshot is probably not necessary I tie on a 10-12 ft leader of 80lb flourocarbon with a Slim Beauty knot. I tie on a barrel swivel or solid swivel and O ring with a Jansik knot. I use a Stella 8K reel with a 10K spool on a Temple Reef Rod and backup is a Spheros on a OTI custom popping rod.
2. Jigging rod- 8000- 10000 class spinning reel with a 5-6 foot rod spooled with 50-65lb indicator braid and topshot of 80-100lb fluorocarbon with a Slim Beauty knot. I tie on a barrel swivel or solid swivel and O ring with a Jansik knot. I use a Spheros 10K on a Shimano Trevala jigging rod.
3. Chunking/conventional Jigging rod- Conventional reel with capacity to hold 300yards of 65-80lb braid on a 6ft rod. I use an Aleutecnos 8v with with 50-65lb indicator braid and topshot of 80lb fluorocarbon with a Slim Beauty knot. I tie on a barrel swivel or solid swivel and O ring with a Jansik knot. I use a Shakespeare Ugly Stick Tiger lite heavy conventional rod.
Equipment-
You will be bottom fishing on the way out and potentially back. I rig as follows for bottom fishing:
1. Combo 1- I keep the swivel on and either keep a jig on for Mahi or a ling or put a wire hook on for kings if they are running and I want to freeline a sardine
2. I use a chicken rig for beeliner. I do not drop to the bottom, I usually stop about ½ way down then drop a few more feet until I get a bite. Indicator braid comes in real handy for this. If beeliner are not your thing then rig with a speed jig, diamond jig or bucktail. I used to use a snapper slapper when snapper season was longer than 15 min…
3. Single hook Grouper rig. This is the big dog. I put on live bait that we catch the night before and drop it to the bottom then reel up 1 crank and hang on…
We will run until about 2 pm then fish for about 4 hours and hit several spots from 15 min to 1 hour (until the bite slows) for bottom fish. Limits vary by species but are 20 for vermillion snapper (b liner). I start with Combo 3 first to catch the big dogs, then if not go to 2. 1 is something that I have in case mahi or ling show up. We should have a mess of fish 10-20 per person before we head to the rigs. I have caught a limit of beeliner before…
We will then make a run to the tuna rigs for the night. This is my normal set up:
Combo 1- popper or Halco 130- cast out as far as you can, if popper, pop then reel, pop then reel… If Halco, cast, count to five then reel at medium speed stopping once in a while for 3 seconds
Combo 2- jig- drop to 60 then jig up, drop to 100 then jig to 60 then drop to 150 then jig to 100… watch your line, if it stops on the drop (and it will) set the hook. You are in 2000 feet of water. I use primarily speed jigs and herring jigs and there are plenty of sponsors who have amazing jigs to look at.
Combo 3- bare hook for chunk bait or yummee flying fish. If chunking, bury your hook in the bait so tuna cannot see it, throw it in with 5-6 other pieces and freeline quickly to let if float away from the boat. The line will take off from your hand then just engage the reel. If yummee, let it float away, reel in for 15 to create a splash then freeline it more…
Normally what I do is throw swimbaits/poppers first to pick up yellowfin, if not on top then switch to jigs and catch blackfin / yellows and use blackfin for chunk. Jigging and popping wears you out. When I get tired, I chunk to relax and take a breather.
I have caught up to 20 blackfin in a night. I usually only keep the larger ones and use the smaller ones for bait. I caught 3 YFT (limit) and stopped fishing last time so other people could use my gear but could have caught many more because they were there….
Knots to know:
Jansik-
Dropper loop rig (simple one)-
Slim beauty
Please provide any other good advice that you would recommend. Some people may not want to buy their own tackle but they can still jig or chunk with the boat rods and even "pop" if they freeline a Yummy or a popper and reel it in quickly for a short time then freeline it again...
Things to bring:
· Sleeping articles (blanket and pillow)
· Personal Hygiene deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, baby wipes
· Bonine or seasickness patches (put one patch on when start the drive)
· Fishing clothes (I wear long sleeve shirt and pants)
· Sun-block
· Sunglasses
· Camera
· Hat
· Medicine (I bring Ibuprofin and Pepto Bismol)
· Gallon of water
· Fish belt with Knife and small hand towel
· We have to buy food from the boat so don't bring any
Buy 1 box of sardines from the boat or local bait shop
Tackle- I recommend three sets of gear. You can go high end with a Stella and a Custom rod or low end with a Spheros and an Ugly Stick based on your budget, preference and probability of divorce…
1. Popping rod 10000 class high gear ratio spinning reel (spheros to stella) on a 7 - 8 ft popping rod. Spool with 50lb braid. Although a topshot is probably not necessary I tie on a 10-12 ft leader of 80lb flourocarbon with a Slim Beauty knot. I tie on a barrel swivel or solid swivel and O ring with a Jansik knot. I use a Stella 8K reel with a 10K spool on a Temple Reef Rod and backup is a Spheros on a OTI custom popping rod.
2. Jigging rod- 8000- 10000 class spinning reel with a 5-6 foot rod spooled with 50-65lb indicator braid and topshot of 80-100lb fluorocarbon with a Slim Beauty knot. I tie on a barrel swivel or solid swivel and O ring with a Jansik knot. I use a Spheros 10K on a Shimano Trevala jigging rod.
3. Chunking/conventional Jigging rod- Conventional reel with capacity to hold 300yards of 65-80lb braid on a 6ft rod. I use an Aleutecnos 8v with with 50-65lb indicator braid and topshot of 80lb fluorocarbon with a Slim Beauty knot. I tie on a barrel swivel or solid swivel and O ring with a Jansik knot. I use a Shakespeare Ugly Stick Tiger lite heavy conventional rod.
Equipment-
You will be bottom fishing on the way out and potentially back. I rig as follows for bottom fishing:
1. Combo 1- I keep the swivel on and either keep a jig on for Mahi or a ling or put a wire hook on for kings if they are running and I want to freeline a sardine
2. I use a chicken rig for beeliner. I do not drop to the bottom, I usually stop about ½ way down then drop a few more feet until I get a bite. Indicator braid comes in real handy for this. If beeliner are not your thing then rig with a speed jig, diamond jig or bucktail. I used to use a snapper slapper when snapper season was longer than 15 min…
3. Single hook Grouper rig. This is the big dog. I put on live bait that we catch the night before and drop it to the bottom then reel up 1 crank and hang on…
We will run until about 2 pm then fish for about 4 hours and hit several spots from 15 min to 1 hour (until the bite slows) for bottom fish. Limits vary by species but are 20 for vermillion snapper (b liner). I start with Combo 3 first to catch the big dogs, then if not go to 2. 1 is something that I have in case mahi or ling show up. We should have a mess of fish 10-20 per person before we head to the rigs. I have caught a limit of beeliner before…
We will then make a run to the tuna rigs for the night. This is my normal set up:
Combo 1- popper or Halco 130- cast out as far as you can, if popper, pop then reel, pop then reel… If Halco, cast, count to five then reel at medium speed stopping once in a while for 3 seconds
Combo 2- jig- drop to 60 then jig up, drop to 100 then jig to 60 then drop to 150 then jig to 100… watch your line, if it stops on the drop (and it will) set the hook. You are in 2000 feet of water. I use primarily speed jigs and herring jigs and there are plenty of sponsors who have amazing jigs to look at.
Combo 3- bare hook for chunk bait or yummee flying fish. If chunking, bury your hook in the bait so tuna cannot see it, throw it in with 5-6 other pieces and freeline quickly to let if float away from the boat. The line will take off from your hand then just engage the reel. If yummee, let it float away, reel in for 15 to create a splash then freeline it more…
Normally what I do is throw swimbaits/poppers first to pick up yellowfin, if not on top then switch to jigs and catch blackfin / yellows and use blackfin for chunk. Jigging and popping wears you out. When I get tired, I chunk to relax and take a breather.
I have caught up to 20 blackfin in a night. I usually only keep the larger ones and use the smaller ones for bait. I caught 3 YFT (limit) and stopped fishing last time so other people could use my gear but could have caught many more because they were there….
Knots to know:
Jansik-
Dropper loop rig (simple one)-
Slim beauty
